On Friday, 2 October, 12-time champion Rafa Nadal crushed Stefano Travaglia 6-1, 6-4, 6-0 to move to the second week without losing a set.
The Spaniard was at his finest to ensure he conserved the best of his energy for when it mattered the most much later in the competition.
Knowing how to get the job done in the early rounds of the majors has always been the core of What makes Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Roger Federer stand out from the rest of the field.
When asked how important it was to keep his early-round matches short, Nadal says: “We are in a very strange situation, after a lot of months without much tennis, especially for me, that I didn’t play in America, I don’t know if it’s a positive thing or a negative thing.”
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Watch the match highlights below
Nadal produced 28 winners, as opposed to the 13 Stefano could muster, while he made just 13 unforced errors. Travaglia, who had beaten former US Open finalist Kei Nishikori of Japan in his previous round, produced 24 mistakes. Nadal rushed to the net 23 times, winning the point 19 times.
Dominic Thiem appears to be on a collision course with Nadal in the semis as he cruised past Casper Ruud
Dominic Thiem, who has almost never considered the hype surrounding him and always insists first and foremost that his record should speak for itself, got his wish last month when he landed that breakout major trophy at Flushing Meadows.
On Friday, the No.3 seed earned a third successive straight-sets victory at Roland-Garros – 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 over Norwegian Casper Ruud.
Ruud, the 25th seed, is a student of the Rafael Nadal Academy, so it came as no surprise he is most at home on the red dirt.
French wild card Hugo Gaston stuns Stan Wawrinka
Not many expected the outcome between Stan Wawrinka and the last Frenchman standing heading into Friday, Hugo Gaston, to be in favour of the 20-year-old but it is what it is.
The young Frenchman ranked 239th, and who had never even faced a top-50 player before somehow, managed to pull a stunner against 2015 champion Stan Wawrinka, with a wildly good performance, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-0, in a rain-interrupted contest on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.
Watch how the contest unfolds below
“For me to play in Paris, it’s fantastic,” says Gaston.
“I try to take the pleasure every minute, every time, and today I won. For the moment it’s a dream.
“Now I play the French Open. Before I always watching this on TV. Today I can play in these courts, so it’s amazing for me.”
Sebastian Korda wins yet again and gets his dream match against Rafa Nadal
Sebastian Korda has booked his dream Roland-Garros encounter which has made him the “happiest person on the planet.”
Korda cruised past fellow qualifier Pedro Martinez 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 on Friday and his reward is a last-16 encounter with 12-time champion Rafael Nadal.
“He’s my biggest idol. He’s one of the reasons I play tennis. Just watching him play, an unbelievable competitor. Just from him, I have the never-give-up mentality. Whenever I’m on the court, I try to be like him,” declares world No.213 Korda, before revealing a special connection to Nadal.
“Growing up, I named my cat ‘Rafa’ after him. That says a lot about how much I love the guy.
“It won’t be easy. I mean, I’ll be the happiest person on planet earth if I do get to play him.”
Sebastian’s dad, Petr, was the 1998 Australian Open champion and 1992 finalist at Roland-Garros.
Nadal remembers watching Petr on TV as a youngster and is well aware of Sebastian’s threat and potential.
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